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Comment by lolsal | Hacker News Reader

> You've got to be in a serious intellectual bubble to be thinking that most people are carefully considering the options and making the best choices for themselves

It's risky to dismiss people that make different choices than you as idiots not being able to make the best choices for themselves. 'Best' here is entirely relative.

For example, I know (in real life), folks that are making the choice to not submit to vaccine mandates because that aligns with their principals which is a preferred choice for them than surviving into old age. It is utter arrogance to argue they are not making the best choice for themselves.

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I don't buy into this level of moral relativism.

Sure they might have different principles than me. So do people who support child marriage in India.

I have no qualms about outlawing child marriage though. Maybe that is ultimately relative and maybe it is western arrogance. I'm fine with it.

I don't see it as moral relativism.

We're talking about an individual making their own health choice.

Not to mention, the "safe" and "effective" vaccines, according to all available data, are nothing like what they were advertised as.

Hell, the President of the USA came out and said you won't get covid if you get the vaccine. And no journalist is calling him out on this obvious lie.

Given that environment, it seems strange to have any vitriol to those who aren't submitting to the new biosecurity state.

> We're talking about an individual making their own health choice.

And businesses making their own employment choices.

> new biosecurity state.

Vaccine mandates are nothing new - I was required to get vaccinated to go to my public school.

> I don't see it as moral relativism.

You literally said the "best" choice is relative. Your entire stance is deeply relativistic at its core.

> And no journalist is calling him out on this obvious lie.

I don't see the relevance of what Biden says to my point at all, seems like a jump in logic. And:

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jul/22/joe-biden/...

> And businesses making their own employment choices.

Does this include a federal government vaccine mandate?

> Vaccine mandates are nothing new - I was required to get vaccinated to go to my public school.

An appeal to tradition/authority doesn't make it any more tenable. The anti-mandate position is precisely (at least in part) that they should have autonomy over their own body.

> You literally said the "best" choice is relative. Your entire stance is deeply relativistic at its core.

You're having a discussion with two different people. The comment you're responding to was not me. We are making different points.

Comparing the MMR requirement for public school to taking experimental vaccines with vastly worse safety profile being a requirement to engage meaningfully in public life at all is a gigantic stretch.

I don't know why people deceive themselves that these are similar in any way.

You don't have to buy it, that's what moral relativism implies.

Ultimately I think you're arguing that the greater public good invalidates personal freedom and body autonomy. I disagree with you, as many others would as well.

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